Door mechanism



Jan. 10,1928. 1,655,478

M. a. ROCKEFELLER noba MECHANISM Filed Jan. 26. 1924 2 Sheets-Sheet l /5 M /.9 o o Inventor:

Z matthew Gfiockefeller, I

// His Attcrneg.

Jan. 10, 1928. 1,655,478

M. s. ROCKEFELLER DOOR MECHANISM Filed Jan. 26. 1924 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Fig. 4

e, E 9 V Z6 o 26' i5 o 27 M 1., 2 nuts. 28 3 Inventor: Tflatthew 6. Rockefeller,

HIS Attorney.

Patented Jan. 10, 1928. a

UNITED STATES mn'riiiitw el Botswana; or sweetener; storm; nssrenon To GENERAL ELECTRIC COMP NY, A: oonrona'r onorNE Y RK."

nodRMEcHnmsM;

Application'filed Imam, 192,4, .senai ne. 688,898.

,My inventionrelates to door mechanisms,

with referencemore' particularly tordoors' which are in a substantially horizontal positionwhenclosed, and hasfor its object the provision oi? simple, reliable and efficient mea-ns it'or "opening and :closingdoors, a p I My invention has particular application to horizontal doors or covers for closing open top chambers, such for example as open top furnace chambers. The. opening and closing ofqheavyf horizontal doors presents serious di'tficulties'since itis impracticable to mount sucha door onhinges so that its weightis carriedby. the hinges; It; is usually neces sary to lift theweight of the door in whole Orin part in order to open or close it. These doors have sometimes beenlprovided with counter-weights to facilitate their being opened. Incarrying out invention .1 mount the door on a pair of wheelsfwhich move :on tracks whereby the door may be rolled-to one 'side' and then tilted about its axis of support to' a substantially rtl position which is the; full open position.

For more complete understanding of my invention reijerenceshouldbehad to the acconipanying drawing in which Fig. 1 is a fragmentary side elevation View Of a furnace door provided with mechanism enibodying my invention; Fig.2 is a, frag'men taryvview similarto Figs-:1 illustrating various steps in the opening of the door; F g. 3 isa fragmentary end elevation view showing-"various details of: construction, while "Figs; 4 and:5 are fragmentary elevation views showin :a modified form of my -in Referring to r the drawing;v I have shown my invention as appliedtoa substantially horizontal -door which closes the top of a containing bodyhaving walls ill which may, for-example, be an electric furnace. As shown-the doorlO closes one half of the furnace top',:the-: other half being closed by an adjoining-door 10. Inaccordance with my invention,iI provide ihorizontal 13172101612? on eaehqsidevof the container, which tracks," are secured; to the walls 11, forfexample, by means of suitable brackets 13 and 14:: The endsof thetracks: are curved upwardly as indicated in the drawing to form limit stops for flangedrollers or-lwheels 15, one being provided-for each track, The wheels 15 form supports for-thedoorlO, and are attached to opposite sides of the door at points one"end. "o,r the other on the top" of jthe w l ll-w Qm eh dolor 1 ,1 c os d ncs t onla shown in Figwltt-o open position as indicated in dotted l'ines Fig. 2, thedoor is rolled on tracks lZ t Ward-theright'for a distance somewhat greater than onesha lf its length vuntil the flanged" wheels 15 ar'ebroughtto st ag i Jt st ps o m d by he P- m ned ou er nd o th ac sll T s Pesltlon is shown in full lines in Fig. 2. The door is then tiltedfonrotated about its axis f upp rtb w e sjla in a cl ck s ud erection tnntil it assumes a vertical, position,

as indicated in dotted lines, which is the jiull .open position; Since the door is balanced .or yery nearly so on the wheels 15 but little efiortisrequiredto move it. In closing the door, it is first tilted in a counter clockwise direction to a substantially horizontal position and then rolledon thejtracks back, over slightly toward the outer ori right hand side a ew d in-F gsal an 2 s a to facilit e th hp i qnte mo e t of' he door, t

o s mp ifying the ma ip l t on o the meansof a bracket '17 ateach end} On each n n sha til i a m llv prr-e a 18 vwh ch meshes'with a spur gear l9irigidly secured to e. Whe ll 5.-- S u d; to q lor-b h e n t eseo t haft l i a a i spr ck wheel '20: which can be turned as desired by ,means of anxendless chain 21; It will be. 1111- derstood that; while supporting andoperatlHgdnQChaIHSmJS shown inthe ldrawin for 0Il8.S1de of the door only the other side of thedoor is provided withduplicate supporta i p m ing "m han w h t eexcep- -tion that a chain wheel 20 may be provided enonersn only of the sh f 16 a As thus constructed, the door may be the furnace Prejferably. the top of the furson .ot er con a n pe d wnw rd moved sideways from the position shown in Fig. 1 to open it by pulling downward on the left-hand side or" the chain 21; i. e., by pulling the chain so as to turn the wheel 20 in a coui'iter-clockwise direction. This-rd tates the shaft 16 and imparts rotation to the wheels by means of the driving connection formed by the gears 18 and 19. The door is thus moved on the wheels 15 to the right-hand extremity of the tracks. It will be observed that by virtue of the driving connection the wheels 15 are turned at the same rate so that the sides of the door are moved evenly along the tracks. At the moment that the wheels engage and are brought to rest by the stops formed by the up-turned outer ends of the tracks, and while the door is held by its own momentum against the stops, the right-hand end of the chain 21 will be pulled downward so as to quickly reverse the rotation of the wheel 20. This clockwise rotation thus applied to wheel 20 causes the spur wheels 18 to travel around the gears 19, which are momentarily fixed, in a clockwise direction whereby the door is tilted in a clockwise direction about its axis or pivot on wheels 15 to the vertical or open position shown in the dotted lines. In clos ing the door, the wheel 20 is first rotated in a counter-clockwise direction by means of chain 21 whereby spur gears 18 are caused to travel upward around the spur gears 19 until the door assumes the substantially horizontal position shown in full lines. The rotation of wheel 20 is then reversed and motion thus applied to wheels 15 in a counlJGE-ClOCkWlSG direction whereby the wheels are caused to roll along the tracks toward the left and carry the door to full closed position.

In the modified itorm of my invention shown in Figures 4 and 5, I provide means for raising the door for a short distance ofl the furnace wall so that it may be easily opened and closed. In this form of my invention the tracks 24: are mounted on pivots 25 near their outer ends and may be moved on their pivots through a small angle to an incl'ned position by means of suitable operating means, such as hydraulic motors 26,

secured to the sides of the furnacebody. A

single hydraulic motor on each side of the furnace may be used to raise and lower the inner ends of the two tracks on that side of the furnace. As shown, the plunger 27' of the hydraulic motor is connected through links 28 and 29 to a toggle mechanism cooperating with the ends of the tracks. Each toggle mechanism comprisestwo links 30 and 31 each of which is pivoted at one end on the link 29. The other end of link 81 has a fixed pivot 32 on the furnace while the other end of link 30 is pivotally connected to the end of the track 12. Although the raising and operating mechanism ior one end of the door 33 only is shown, it will be understood that similar mechanism is provided for the adjoining door 84. Also, the opposite side of the furnace will be similarly arranged so as to raise and lower the opposite ends of the doors.

When the doors are in closed position, as shown in Fig. 5 the tracks 24 are inclined downward slightly toward the center of the furnace. The doors then rest on the top 01 the'turnac In this position of the doors, the plunger 27 is expelled whereby the links 30 and 31 of each toggle connection are retracted. in opening the doors the hydraulic motor 26 is first operated to retract its plunger 27 whereby the links 30 and 31 of each toggle connection are brought into alignment and the inner ends of the tracks raised slightly, the tracks moving about their pivots 25. This position is shown in Fig. 4. The tracks are now in substantially horizontal positions and the doors are elevated oil" the top of the furnace and may be moved to open position by means of the chain 35 as described in connection with Figs. 1 to 3 inclusive. It will be understood that each motor 26 raises the two ends of the doors at that side oi the furnace at the same time, and the two motors are operated together.

In closing the door, it is first moved to the position shown in Fig. 4 by means of the operating mechanism as will be understood ifrom the description of Figs. 1 to 3 inclusive, whereupon the hydraulic motors are operated to lower the inner ends of the tracks whereby the doors are lowered on the furnace.

lVith this form of my invention the top of the furnace may be substantially horizontal since it is not necessary to make it in- 'clined to facilitate movement of the door as in the form shown in Figs. 1 to 3 inclusive. Obviously, a much tighter joint may be obtained between the door and the furnace walls with the form shown in Figs. 4; and 5.

l/Vhile I have described my invention as embodied in concrete form and as operating in a specific manner in accordance with the provisions of the patent statutes, it should be understood that I do not limit my invention thereto, since various modifications thereof will suggest themselves to those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit of my invention, the scope of which is set forth in the annexed claims.

lVhat I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States, is,--

1. Operating mechanism for horizontal doors comprising a pair of oppositely disposed wheels forming supports for the door, and tracks for said wheels on which the door can be moved to one side to substantially half open position and then tilted to a vertical position.

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is substantially balanced, and tracksfor said wheels on which the door may be moved horizontally for a distance slightly greater than onehalf of its length and tilted about its axis of support on said wheels to a substantially vertical full open position.

4. Operating mechanism for horizontal doors comprising oppositely disposed wheels on which the door is substantially balanced, and means for rotating said wheels to carry the door horizontally and then tilting said door about its axis of supporton said wheels I to full open position.

5. Operating mechanism for horizontal doors comprising oppositely disposed wheels on which the door is substantially balanced, tracks for said Wheels, stops on said tracks, and means for rotating said wheels to carry the door horizontally until said wheels engage said stops and for then tilting said door about its axis of support on said wheels to full open position.

6. Operating mechanism for horizontal doors comprising a pair of oppositely disposed wheels secured to the door, tracks for said wheels, and driving means for said wheels mounted on said door whereby said door can be rolled to one side on said tracks by actuating said driving means in one direction and then tilted to full open position by reversing said driving means.

7. Operating mechanism for horizontal doors comprising oppositely disposed wheels on which the door is substantially balanced,

tracks for said wheels, stops on said tracks,

a transversely extending shaft mounted on said door, spur gears on said shaft, spur gears on said wheels meshing with the gears on saidv shaft, and meansfor turning 'said shaft in one direction so as to move said Wheels on said tracks into engagement with said stops and for turning the shaft in the opposite direction to tilt said door about its axis'of. support on'said Wheels to full open position. I

8. Operating mechanism for horizontal doors comprising a pair of oppositely disposed wheels secured to the door, pivotally mounted tracks for said wheels, and means for moving the tracks about their pivots so 7 as to raise the door to permit its being rolled to one side and tilted to, full open position.

9. Operating mechanism for horizontal doors comprising a pair of oppositely disposed wheels secured to said door, pivotally mounted tracks for said wheels, means for swinging said tracks about their pivots to raise the door. and driving means cooperat ing with said wheels for rolling said door to one side and then tilting itto full open po sition.

10. Operating mechanism for a door resting when closed in a horizontal position on the walls of the chamber closed thereby, comprising a pair of oppositely disposed wheels secured to the door, pivotallymounted tracks for said wheels, means for moving said tracks about their pivots to raise the door off the wall of the chamber, a shaft mounted on said door, and a driving connection between said shaft and said Wheels whereby the door may be rolled to one side on said tracks by turning said. shaft in one direction and then tilted to full open position by reversing the rotation of said shaft. In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this 25th day of January, 1924.

MATTHEW G. 'ROCKEFELLER. 

